Kaboom!

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Kaboom!

Developer(s)	Activision
Publisher(s)	Activision
Designer(s)	Larry Kaplan
Release date(s)	1981
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single player, Two players
Platform(s)	Atari 2600
Media	Cartridge
Input	Paddle

Kaboom! is an Atari 2600 game designed by Larry Kaplan and published by Activision in 1981. It was also released for the Atari 5200 and the Atari 8-bit family of computers. A 16 bit remake for the Super Nintendo was in the works at some point, but the game was never released.[1] In the late 1990s, a keychain version of the game was created by Tiger Electronics.

Kaboom! was originally going to be an Atari-produced 2600 port of their 1978 arcade game, "Avalanche." Activision's game was very successful, selling over one million cartridges by 1983.

Gameplay in Kaboom! consists of catching bombs dropped by the "Mad Bomber" with a set of three buckets using a paddle controller. Points are scored for every bomb caught, extra buckets (maximum of three) are awarded at every 1,000 points, and one bucket is lost every time a bomb is dropped. Bombs fall at increasing higher speeds, making each of the seven higher levels more difficult.

Screenshot of Kaboom!

When Kaboom! was originally sold, anyone who scored above 3,000 points could send Activision a picture of their screen and receive membership in the Activision Bucket Brigade and also receive a Bucket Brigade patch.

While the "Mad Bomber" was dropping bombs, he had an unhappy face. If the player missed and a bomb is dropped, he smiled while the bombs on the screen exploded. The game manual mentioned that something "special" would happen after 10,000 points.